Scuderia Ferrari have unveiled the car that they hope can push them back to winning races in the 2021 Formula One season – the SF21.
The 2020 season was the team’s worst since 1980, 40 years ago, with their best result of the season being a second-place finish in the first race of the season at the Austrian Grand Prix.
Spaniard and former McLaren driver Carlos Sainz replaces now Aston Martin driver Sebastian Vettel, who had been with the Prancing Horses for seven seasons, following his own worst season in F1 since his rookie year in 2007. He’ll team up with Monegasque Charles Leclerc, who will be in his fourth Formula One season, to make the Scuderia’s youngest driver lineup since 1968.
At the unveiling yesterday, team boss Mattia Binotto agreed with critics that they can’t have another dismal season.
The Italian said, “Last year was a big disappointment. We know we cannot repeat such a bad result.
“We know we need to do better in 2021.”
Binotto also revealed some details about the choice of the car’s livery.
“The rear end is reminiscent of the burgundy red of the very first Ferrari, the 125 S. But as it moves gradually towards the cockpit area, it transforms into the modern red that we have used in most recent years.
“This season presents us with many challenges and through this livery, visually, we reboot from our past and head into the future.”
The Italian outfit has looked to improve the rear end of their car this season, having used both development tokens allowed in the offseason on that section of the car. The SF21 also has a brand new engine, as well as new aerodynamic changes.
Laurent Mekies, Ferrari’s Racing Director, believes that their car has what it takes to close the gap to German team Mercedes, but that it’ll definitely be a challenge and that they need to refrain from making the errors made last year.
“The 2021 season is about the lessons learned from an incredibly difficult 2020 campaign.
“We have tried to learn from our mistakes and improve in the areas where simply we have not been strong enough.
“Of course in the frozen technical regulations and the new financial regulations we know there is a limit in terms of how fast we can turn things around, but we have been trying to reconstruct methodically our way back to the more competitive part of the grid.”
Mekies also noted that new driver Sainz was fitting in well with his new engineers and teammates.
“There’s plenty of positive energy coming from our two drivers. Carlos has spent a lot of time in the factory and has integrated with the team very quickly.
As for Charles, he is already perfectly at home with the team: he knows what he wants and is also very aware of the role he has in the team, both in and out of the car. Over the winter, we have witnessed the two guys getting on very well together and this can only be a good thing for the whole team.”
The first look of the Ferrari on track will be when pre-season testing begins in Sakhir, Bahrain on March 12 and runs until the 14th with the first race weekend beginning on Friday 26, March.
